In-store sales associates have traditionally been provided with basic in-store electronic support including, for example, point-of-sale (POS) support. Traditionally, POS support has been embodied by an in-store non-mobile cash-register that is centrally located to allow customers to pay for merchandise, and to allow sales associates to provide limited, stationary sales support, such as product lookups, sales manuals, etc.
Recent developments of robust mobile devices has lead to an implementation of a mobile platform POS support system. For example, US Patent publication No. 2011/0231272 is directed to a retail mobile POS software application that provides mobile POS support to retailers. The described system includes a scanner and iPod Touch coupled with a retail POS system, and uses a touch screen interface to POS features a salesperson would typically use to help a guest, including purchases with credit, gift and debit cards, cash, and making returns. The mobile system also combines iPod Touch features with a magnetic stripe reader, barcode scanner, and software to speed plastic and cash transactions.
For credit card and instant credit transactions, guests or purchasers, write their signature on the device using finger entry and control. Any employee who has the portable electronic device can accept cash transactions. After entering all the products and totaling the cost, the employee presses an on-screen “Cash” button to electronically open one of any number of cash drawers installed around the store. Guests (or purchasers) will continue to have the option to receive a printed or c-mailed receipt, or both.
The described mobile POS software application, however, is limited in that it is simply an extension of the traditional POS system. Today's sales associates, however, demand additional mobile access to multichannel processing and support systems to provide for enhanced sales activities. Thus, while the background systems and methods identified herein, generally work for their intended purpose, the subject disclosure provides improvements thereto, particularly by providing systems and methods for connected sales associate services by provided mobile connectivity to various sales support systems through a single integrated mobile device.
Previously, when a retail customer asked questions about specific products, sales associates would have to rely on centrally-located reference materials to determine the answer. This entailed leaving the customer to go find, for example, a user manual (usually located in the back of the store), finding the user manual among numerous similar manuals, locating the correct page with information relating to the customer's question, and returning to the customer with the answer. The present application discloses systems and methods enabling sales associates to remain with the customer at all times and answer the customer's questions by locating the user manual (and even the correct page) by searching through a database of reference materials available on the sales associates' mobile devices.